Submit a Talk to PyCon ZA 2019

What Kinds of Proposals are we accepting?

  • Keynote: A 30-45 minute talk on a broad topic that should be of interest to almost all of the attendees.
  • Talk: A conference talk. Talk slots are 30 minutes long, with an additional 10 minutes for discussion at the end. Shared sessions are also possible. Presentations must be in English.
  • Tutorial: An in-depth examination of a specific topic. Tutorials will be run on the day before the main conference and are expected to provided in-depth coverage of a topic. The number of attendees will be also be limited. We are accepting proposals for both half day (4 hours) and full-day (8 hours) tutorials (please specify which in the additional notes section when submitting).
  • Demo: Something cool things for attendees to see and interact with over the course of the conference.
  • Open Space: A discussion forum where communities with a common interest gather to present views, ask questions and meet people interested in the topic. Open Spaces can also be during the conference.
  • Sprint: A topic for people to work on during the sprint weekend after the conference. You are not required to submit a sprint topic if you want to work on a project during the sprints, but submitting it before does allow us to advertise it during the conference.

Submission Deadline

Tutorial submissions close on Friday, 2nd August 2019.

The deadline for talk submissions is Friday, 30th August 2019.

Talk tracks

To simplify scheduling, and help reviewers, this year we are dividing the submissions into a number of tracks.

See the track details page for more information.

How To Submit A Proposal

  • Create a PyCon ZA 2019 account (or login if you already have one) by clicking on the Create Account/login button on the top right.
  • On your profile page, click Edit User and fill in your name if you didn't do so during account creation.
  • On your profile page, click Edit Profile and fill in a contact number. Contact numbers are never displayed on the site but organizers need them in case they need to contact speakers urgently (e.g. shortly before or during the conference).
  • On your profile page, click Submit talk proposal on the right.
  • Fill in the title and abstract for your talk and select the appropriate speaker (or speakers).
  • Select the appropriate talk type for your proposal.
  • Select the appropriate talk track for the proposal. If you're unsure, just use Other.
  • Done!

What Happens Next?

  • After you've submitted a talk, we'll email you to let you know that we've received your talk proposal. We'll ask questions if we're unsure of anything and help you make your abstract as shiny as possible.
  • Then there'll be a long wait while other proposals to come in.
  • We'll start accepting talks at the end of August (tutorials will be settled earlier). If it's important for you to know before then, let us know and we'll work something out.

What If I'm New to Speaking?

If you're new to speaking and would like assistance preparing your talk, email team@za.pycon.org with a rough draft of your talk proposal and we'll find a suitably experienced speaker to act as a mentor.

Financial aid

PyCon ZA is a small conference and as a result, we have a limited budget. We do try to make some funding available, but it is limited, and we cannot guarantee that we will be able to fund any specific proposal. See the Financial Aid page for details on how to apply for funding.

FAQ

If I'm a speaker, do I need to purchase a ticket?

Yes. Python conferences have long had a policy of everyone pays. Even the organizers have to purchase tickets.

How do I edit my talk submission?

Your talk submissions will be listed on your profile page. If you go to the individual proposal page by clicking on the talk title, you should see an "Edit" button to the right of the title. Note that you can only edit the proposal while it's under consideration. Once a final decision has been made, it can no longer be edited. If you need to add or edit something after a proposal has been accepted, please contact the talk committee with the details.

Can I submit multiple talks / tutorials / other?

Talks and Tutorials are treated independently, so it's fine to submit both a talk and a tutorial.

You can also submit multiple Talk and Keynote proposals, but, to encourage speaker diversity, we will generally only accept one of your proposals. If you do submit multiple proposals, please let us know which proposal you would most like to present, so we can use that as a potential tie-breaker.

Multiple proposals for the other options are fine, but we do expect you to be realistic when submitting multiple proposals.